Buffalo Chicken Wings

I guess I felt the need to put that out there at the beginning of my post about Buffalo Wings. I have eaten them pretty much since I can remember. In Buffalo, you don’t order pizza – you order pizza and wings…and blue cheese and pop. I have eaten at the Anchor Bar (which is where the Buffalo Wing originated) and they were really good wings. However, I thought their beef on weck was even better. Ok, I’m getting hungry again.

There are three things that make good authentic Buffalo Wings in my opinion.

1) They are deep-fried until nice and crispy and they are NOT breaded.

2) The sauce is made up of Frank’s Red Hot, melted butter and vinegar. You will see different recipes out there, but this is what I consider the authentic recipe.

3) Blue cheese Dressing. A good creamy dressing with some chunks of cheese is perfect. I know people like ranch dressing with their wings (I do, too) but the blue cheese is authentic. Oh yes, also need carrot sticks and celery for dipping!

There are many variations on sauces for the chicken wing and I love to try different flavors. However, this is the only way to make authentic Buffalo Wings – it just is dammit darnit!!

Before I give you the recipe, let’s talk a little about deep-frying. If you do it right, it’s really pretty safe. If you don’t, it can actually be pretty dangerous….so read up please:-)

1) Make sure you are using the right type of oil. Often, people will use peanut oil because it doesn’t really give the food any other flavor and it has a very high smoke point. We used canola oil, which has a slightly lower smoke point, but still fine and safe to use for frying.

2) If you aren’t using a deep fryer (a Fry Daddy for you fancy people,) then find a good deep heavy pot like a dutch oven. The pot should be no more than two-thirds of the way full with oil and you should use a thermometer for checking the temperature. The ideal temp being between 350 to 375 degrees. We have a deep-frying/candy thermometer that clips onto the side of our dutch oven and it works perfectly (I would tell you that they are really cheap except I bought it for Jim for his birthday. So instead I will tell you that they are very pricey and an excellent birthday present for someone you love:-).)

3) Also, when you place the food in the oil don’t add too much at once. The temperature will drop when you add it in so the more you add the more it affects your temps. This is also another reason to let your food sit for a little while before adding to the oil.

4) Make sure you dry your wings off really well. Water/moisture and hot oil do not mix. You can let your food sit for about 30 minutes or depending on what you are frying you can add a flour coating to soak up some of the moisture.

6) Turn your oven on to about 200 degrees and have a plate to put your food on to keep it warm while the other batches are frying.

7) Because your oil breaks down after you deep fry with it, you really shouldn’t use it again to deep fry. I put my oil in a coffee canister once it cools and then throw it away. There might be better ways to dispose of it, but that is what we do.

We also made an Asian sauce for our wings that was excellent. Its fun to change things up a bit and I really like some of the sweet and spicy flavor combos out there. I will share that recipe tomorrow.

Just remember – be safe, enjoy the Super Bowl commercials and eat more chicken!

12 Chicken Wings (discard tips and cut at the joint - you will end up with 24 wings and drummettes)

2 Tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons white vinegar

Franks Hot Sauce

Instructions

Heat the oil in a heavy deep pot to about 375 degrees (the temp will drop when you add the wings so you want to start higher than 350.) Preheat your oven to about 200 degrees.

You can season the wings with a little salt and pepper if you like. Carefully put them in the oil to fry in batches. Move them around so they don't stick and let them fry until they get nice and crispy and a light golden brown. We fried ours for about 10-12 minutes per batch. Remove wings from the pot and place on a plate in the oven.

To make the sauce, melt butter on the stove top and add vinegar and hot sauce to taste. I think we added about 3 tablespoons of sauce and it was about medium.

Place wings in a bowl and pour the hot sauce over top. Use tongs to toss the wings in the sauce.

These look delicious. Every so often it is O.K. to over look what is wrong with a dish and concentrate on what is right. This is the kind of recipe that makes you want to do that. I hope you have a great day. Blessings…Mary

Dang, girl. You really are a pro. I had no idea that real wings aren’t breaded. No one in my house is a fan of wings, but I am wondering if that method of frying would work for chicken strips? Would the same rules apply? Any idea, oh goddess of frying information?? I’d love to do that sauce with chicken strips…

One of the girls that I went to school with reminded me on FB about Buffalo Chicken Fingers and our favorite Chicken Finger Sub – oh my goodness, that was actually a favorite over the wings – soooo good! They did bread the fingers though – and then they would toss them in the sauce. I think you can get away without breading the wings because the skin gets so nice and crispy on its own, but I think the boneless chicken would need a flour breading..I saw someone that did flour, baking powder and cornstarch. Maybe I should make those this weekend…mmmmm.